


no strings to hold me (up)

by voiDce



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Character Study, Gen, written....late 2012??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 03:51:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9861155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voiDce/pseuds/voiDce
Summary: As he's laying there, useless and bloody on a pile of garbage in a giant Prospitian trash pit, staring up past a wall of rock and dirt and cliff into the uncaring stars of space, Tavros thinks about mortality.





	

He thinks about life, and how fleeting it is.

He thinks about death, and how easy it is to come by.

He thinks about Vriska Serket, and how she's the reason he's laying here, useless and bloody on this particular pile of garbage in a giant Prospitian trash pit, staring up past a wall of rock and dirt and cliff into the uncaring stars of space.

He thinks about how he can't feel his legs anymore.  Can't feel anything right now, actually.  He lets his tired eyes slide closed.

-

_She's screaming at you.  It's a string of insults that you don't want to hear.  You open your mouth to say something, but Her crazy eight pupils tell you to close it again.  You close your mouth.  You were only going to point out that Her idea is dangerous and you didn't want anyone to get hurt._ You _don't want to get hurt.  Did She just call you boring again?  You think so.  She's done yelling for now; you soak in the silence.  Your ears hurt and you can feel them ringing.  You contemplate how intimidating She can be and how scared you are right now._

_Conclusion: very._

_You can feel Her taking control of your legs.  You realize She'd been waiting for a reply to a question you hadn't caught, and She's grown impatient._

_"Wait, um, Vriska, I'm sorry, but, uh, I don't know what you want me to do," you say, the falter-pause of your voice prominent, though you're shaking now.  You wish you could sound confident.  Rufio would want you to be confident.  He's confident; why aren't you?_

_"I was asking you if you could fly, Toreadumbass," Her smile is cruel and smug and Her words cut the air like knives, "Don't you want to fly?"_

_-_

Tavros' eyes slowly blink and flutter open again, not having realized he'd closed them in the first place.

"No," he manages to croak out, almost inaudibly, as the blue light of Skaia dims and the sound of tiny carapace feet on hard ground echos from a short distance.  Tavros can't bring himself to yell for help, his throat parched and dusty, with the leftover taste of blood still on his tongue.

By the time they've found him, he's unconscious, replaying the scene on the dreamscape.  His legs, which for some reason are already beginning to look mangled in this dream, are moving of their own accord--of Vriska's accord--slowly shifting, walking backwards towards the edge.  His eyes are forced to meet Her's as one of his feet doesn't find ground, and he sees her grin.

Suddenly, he's free-falling, unable to scream because Vriska won't even let him have control over his mouth, only to pause, rewind, and start again right before he hits the ground.  Over and over he dreams this, with only the one question in his mind:

 

_Don't you want to fly?_

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of a character study for an AU roleplay forum in....late-2012, I wanna say? And I found it again entirely by accident. I kinda like how it came out, and because I have notoriously bad luck with technology, I wanted to make sure I didn't lose it by immortalizing it on AO3. Look at me, Ma, I'm learning!


End file.
